Driving notification method and driving notification system

ABSTRACT

A driving notification method and a driving notification system are provided. The driving notification system is disposed on a mobile vehicle, and the driving notification method includes following steps. A surrounding image is captured through an image capturing device. A target object detection is performed to the surrounding image to obtain a target position of an image detection object. A gaze position of a driver is detected through an eye tracking device. Whether the gaze position matches the target position is determined. An alarm device is controlled to activate an alarming operation if the gaze position does not match the target position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan applicationserial no. 106137727, filed on Nov. 1, 2017. The entirety of theabove-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by referenceherein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a driving assistance technology. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a driving notification method anda driving notification system.

2. Description of Related Art

Along with increasing numbers and types of the transportation vehicles,probability of traffic accidents grows year by year. In addition tocontinuous improvement in vehicle power, driving safety is apparentlyanother issue that needs to be focused on in the field of transportationtechnology. For instance, various objects, such as traffic signs,pedestrians, and obstructions, that need a driver to pay attention tomay exist on a road that a driver drives on. The driver is required toconcentrate on the traffic in order to perform the next driving action.

Nowadays, traffic accidents occur most of the time when the driver failsto pay attention to the traffic conditions. The driver may fail tonotice the traffic signs or the obstructions on the road when feelingtired or being distracted. As such, the driver does not perform correctdriving actions according to the traffic signs or the obstructions infront of the vehicle. For instance, if the driver is distracted by acell phone and thus does not notice a color change of the trafficlights, the driver may not be able to react in time and runs through ared light or a yellow light as a result. If the driver is extremelytired and thus does not notice the speed limit sign on the road, thedriver may exceed the speed limit. The foregoing situations may lead totraffic accidents easily. In other words, if the driver can payattention to the objects on the road that needs to be noticed, thenumber of traffic accidents can be significantly reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a driving notification method and a drivingnotification system which can determine whether a line-of-sight of adriver is gazed at a target object through an eye tracking device andactivate an alarm when the line-of-sight of the driver is detected notto be gazed at the target object so as to enhance safety of drivingtransportation vehicles.

In an embodiment of the invention, a driving notification method isprovided and is suitable for a driving notification system including aneye tracking device and an image capturing device. The drivingnotification system is disposed on a mobile vehicle, and the drivingnotification method includes following steps. A surrounding image iscaptured through the image capturing device. A target object detectionis performed to the surrounding image to obtain a target position of animage detection object. A gaze position of a driver is detected throughthe eye tracking device. Whether the gaze position matches the targetposition is determined. An alarm device is controlled to activate analarming operation if the gaze position does not match the targetposition.

From another aspect, in an embodiment of the invention, a drivingnotification system is provided and includes an image capturing device,an eye tracking device, a memory, and a processor. The memory stores aplurality of instructions. The processor is coupled to the imagecapturing device, the eye tracking device, and the memory. The processoris configured to execute the instructions to: capture a surroundingimage through the image capturing device; perform a target objectdetection to the surrounding image to obtain a target position of animage detection object; detect a gaze position of a driver through theeye tracking device; determine whether the gaze position matches thetarget position; and control an alarm device to activate an alarmingoperation if the gaze position does not match the target position.

To sum up, in the driving notification method and the drivingnotification system provided by the embodiments of the invention, thegaze position of the eyes of the driver is tracked. Moreover, the targetposition of the image detection object on the surrounding image isobtained through image capturing and target object detection. As such,whether a line-of-sight of the driver falls on the target object can beaccordingly detected through comparing between the gaze position of theeyes of the driver and the target position of the image detectionobject. Therefore, if the gaze position detected by the eye trackingdevice does not match the target position of the image detection objectof the target object, the alarming operation can be activated to notifythe driver.

To make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of theinvention more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied withdrawings are described in detail as follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a driving notification system according toan embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a driving notification system and a mobilevehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a driving notification method according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a driving notification system according toan embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a driving notification method according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of obtaining a gaze position according toan embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are scenario schematic diagrams of obtaining a gazeposition according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of determining whether a gaze positionmatches a target position according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of determining whether a gaze positionmatches a target position according to an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Several embodiments of the invention are described in detail belowaccompanying with figures. In terms of the reference numerals used inthe following descriptions, the same reference numerals in differentfigures should be considered as the same or the like elements. Theembodiments are only a portion of the invention, which do not presentall embodiments of the invention. To be more specifically, theembodiments serves as examples of the method, the electronic device, andthe computer readable storage medium fall within the scope of the claimsof the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a driving notification system according toan embodiment of the invention. With reference to FIG. 1, a drivingnotification system 10 includes an eye tracking device 110, an alarmdevice 120, a processor 130, a memory 140, and an image capturing device150.

The driving notification system 10 is suitable for being disposed on amobile vehicle and is capable of detecting a surrounding target objectcontinuously when a driver is driving or riding the mobile vehicle. Themobile vehicle is one type of transportation which can be moved throughhuman control, such as cars, buses, bicycles, scooters, ships,airplanes, and motor machines of various types, which should however notbe construed as limitations to the invention. Here, the drivingnotification system 10 can further detect an eye ball feature of thedriver so as to identify a gaze position of the driver. By comparingbetween a location of the target object and the gaze position of thedriver, the driving notification system 10 can determine whether aline-of-sight of the driver falls on the target object required to benoticed. As such, when the line-of-sight of the driver is detected notto gaze at the target object required to be noticed when the driver isdriving, the driving notification system 10 can timely send an alarm tonotify the driver.

The eye tracking device 110 is a kind of equipment capable of trackingand measuring eye position and eye movement and is suitable fordetecting the eye ball feature of the driver. In one embodiment, the eyetracking device 110 can include a face image capturing module configuredto determine the gaze position of the driver according to a facingorientation of face and a pupil position through capturing a face imageand an eye image of the driver. In one embodiment, the eye trackingdevice 110 may include a light emitting module and an eye imagecapturing module. The light emitting module of the eye tracking device110 emits light beams towards the eyes of the driver, and the eye imagecapturing module of the eye tracking device 110 captures the eye image.The eye tracking device 110 detects the pupil position and a bright spotposition of the driver in the eye image and determines the current gazeposition of the line-of-sight of the eyes according to a correspondingpositional relation between the pupil position and the bright spotposition. The bright spot position are reflective points formed byirradiating the eyes of the driver by emitting the light beams throughthe light emitting module.

The alarm device 120 is configured to perform an alarming operation toissue an alarming signal for the driver. The alarm device 120 may be anin-car dashboard, a navigation device, a user's cell phone, etc. Variousalarming operations can be performed according to the types of the alarmdevice 120 to issue corresponding alarming signals. For instance, whenthe alarm device 120 acts as the car dashboard, the alarming signal maybe a text notification, a flash light notification, a color changingnotification, etc. When the alarm device 120 acts as an in-car speakeror the driver's cell phone, the alarming signal may be a voicenotification. When the alarm device 120 acts as a navigation device, thealarming signal may be a text notification, a voice notification, etc.Alternatively, the alarm device 120 may also be a component of themobile vehicle in contact with the driver, such as a seat, a steeringwheel, or the like. In other words, the alarming signal may be a type ofnotification provided through seat vibration, steering wheel vibration,etc., and any method capable of providing notifications to the driver isapplicable to the invention.

The processor 130 is coupled to the eye tracking device 110, the alarmdevice 120, the memory 140, and the image capturing device 150 tocontrol overall operation of the driving notification system 10. In thisembodiment, the processor 130 may be, for example, a central processingunit (CPU), a programmable microprocessor, a digital signal processor(DSP), a programmable controller, an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other hardwaredevices with computing capability, which should however not be construedas limitations to the invention.

The memory 140 is, for example, a fixed or movable random access memory(RAM) in any form, a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a harddisc, other similar devices, or a combination of these devices, forexample. The memory 140 is configured to store a data, a program code,an image, etc. which may be used during the operation of the drivingnotification system 10. That is, the memory 140 is further configured torecord a plurality of instructions executed by the processor 130.

The image capturing device 150 is disposed on the mobile vehicle and isconfigured to capture a surrounding image in front of the mobilevehicle. The image capturing device 150 is an image sensor including,for example, a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementarymetal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) for capturing the surrounding image. Inan embodiment, the image capturing device 150 may be disposed at thefront of the vehicle, e.g. above a windshield of the vehicle, forcapturing a traffic image in front of the vehicle. Alternatively, theimage capturing device 150 may also act as a driving recorder or adigital camera disposed above the vehicle. Nevertheless, the inventionis not limited to the above applications.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a driving notification system and a mobilevehicle according to an embodiment of the invention. With reference toFIG. 2, if the driving notification system 10 is applied to a cardriving environment, when a driver 21 drives a car 22 (i.e., the mobilevehicle), the image capturing device 150 may face the front of the car22 to capture an image based on a field of view f1. In addition, the eyetracking device 110 may be disposed at one side of a rearview mirror M1,such that the eye tracking device 110 faces the driver 21 to capture aneye image of the driver 21 so as to detect a gaze position of the driver21. Nevertheless, FIG. 2 is merely exemplary, and numbers and actualpositions of the eye tracking device 110 and the image capturing device150 are not particularly limited by the invention and can be designedaccording to actual applications.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a driving notification method according to anembodiment of the invention. With reference to FIG. 3, the methodprovided by this embodiment is suitable for the driving notificationsystem 10 of the foregoing embodiment, and detailed steps of providingan alarm according to the gaze position of the driver in this embodimentis described with reference to the elements in the driving notificationsystem 10 as follows.

First of all, in step S301, the processor 130 captures the surroundingimage through the image capturing device 150. The image capturing device150 is configured to capture an image around the mobile vehicle, forexample, the image capturing device 150 may face a traveling direction,a lateral side of the traveling direction, or a rear side of thetraveling direction to capture the surrounding image. Besides, thenumber of the capturing device 150 is not limited by the invention. Inan embodiment, the processor 130 can simultaneously capture a pluralityof surrounding images by using more than one image capturing devices.Note that a field of view (FOV) of the image capturing device 150 isdetermined according to a performance and a position of the imagecapturing device 150, and an imaging content of the surrounding image isdetermined by the field of view of the image capturing device 150.

In step S302, the processor 130 performs a target object detection tothe surrounding image to obtain a target position of an image detectionobject. Particularly, specific image features of a variety of targetobjects are established in a data base. The processor 130 can analyzethe surrounding image according to the specific image features in thedata base, so as to determine whether an image detection object matchingthe specific image features exists in the surrounding image. In otherwords, when an image detection object matching the specific imagefeatures is found to exist in the surrounding image in front of thevehicle, the processor 130 can determine that the target object islocated in a shooting direction of the image capturing device 150, suchas in front of the vehicle. For instance, the processor 130 can performan image analysis through a contour information or a color informationof the surrounding image, so as to detect whether a target object existsor not. The foregoing target object can be a traffic sign (e.g., atraffic light, a driving regulatory sign, a road instruction sign, etc.)or an obstruction (e.g., a pedestrian, a roadblock, an animal, etc.).

In an embodiment, the target position of the image detection object maybe image coordinates on the surrounding image or may bethree-dimensional space coordinates generated through space depthanalysis, which should however not be construed as limitations to theinvention. Note that if the target position of the image detectionobject are the three-dimensional space coordinates, thethree-dimensional space coordinates of the image detection object can beobtained through a depth information calculation by installing more thanone image capturing devices to capture a plurality of surroundingimages.

In step S303, the processor 130 detects the gaze position of the driverthrough the eye tracking device 110. In an embodiment, the eye trackingdevice 110 may detect and determine a line-of-sight location through theimage analysis. In addition, in eye tracking technology, based on thetwo eye images captured successively, a degree of positional shift of anidentical pupil feature point can also be calculated to serve as amovement information of the eyes. Alternatively, the tracking of thegaze position may also be performed according to relations among thepupils, orbital positions, shapes, line-of-sight directions, etc. by theeye tracking device 110. The eye tracking device 110 continues toprovide the gaze position of the driver detected to the processor 130.In an embodiment, the eye tracking device 110 can analyze thetwo-dimensional projection coordinates of the line-of-sight projectingon the projection plane in front of the driver, and the two-dimensionalprojection coordinates may act as the gaze position of the driver. In anembodiment, the gaze position of the driver may also bethree-dimensional space coordinates based on configurations of the depthinformation of the projection plane.

In step S304, the processor 130 determines whether the gaze positionmatches the target position. To be specific, after the processor 130obtains the gaze position provided by the eye tracking device 110 andanalyzes the target position, the processor 130 can determine whetherthe gaze position and the target position are close enough, so as todetermine whether the line-of-sight of the driver falls on the targetobject.

In step S305, if the gaze position does not match the target position(No is determined in step S304), the processor 130 controls the alarmdevice 120 to activate the alarming operation. In another aspect, instep S306, if the gaze position matches the target position (Yes isdetermined in step S304), the processor 130 controls the alarm device120 not to activate the alarming operation. In other words, in responseto determining the gaze position does not match the target position, theprocessor 130 control the alarm device 120 to activate the alarmingoperation. In response to determining the gaze position matches thetarget position, the processor 130 control the alarm device 120 not toactivate the alarming operation. To be specific, when the processor 130determines that the gaze position of the driver does not match thetarget position of the image detection object, meaning that the driverdoes not gaze at the target object, the processor 130 can control thealarm device 120 to issue an audible alarm, a visual alarm, or a tactilealarm to notify the driver, so as to inform the driver that there areimportant target objects around the mobile vehicle being ignored.

Nevertheless, the embodiments of the invention are not limited to theforegoing descriptions. The above embodiments may be varied/modifiedaccording to the actual requirements. For instance, in an embodiment ofthe invention, after the alarm device is activated, the gaze positioncan be determined again whether to match the target position, so as tostop the alarm device from performing the alarming operationcontinuously or further controlling the components of the mobilevehicle. An embodiment is explained in detail below.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a driving notification system according toan embodiment of the invention. With reference to FIG. 4, a drivingnotification system 40 includes an eye tracking device 410, an alarmdevice 420, a processor 430, a memory 440, an image capturing device450, and a distance measuring device 460. Note that functions andcoupling relations of the eye tracking device 410, the alarm device 420,the processor 430, the memory 440, and the image capturing device 450are similar to that of the eye tracking device 110, the alarm device120, the processor 130, the memory 140, and the image capturing device150 of FIG. 1, and that detailed descriptions are not further providedhereinafter. A difference between FIG. 4 and FIG. 1 includes that thedriving notification system 40 further includes the distance measuringdevice 460. Moreover, the processor 430 is coupled to a vehicle drivingelement 470 of the mobile vehicle.

The distance measuring device 460 can be an ultrasonic measuring device,an infrared measuring device, or a laser measuring device (aka a lightdetection and ranging device) and is configured to measure a distancebetween the mobile vehicle and the target object. The distance measuringdevice 460 can also be an image depth analysis device, so as to be usedto determine the distance between the target object and the mobilevehicle according to an image depth value. The vehicle driving element470 can be a braking device, a speed control device, a direction controldevice, or other mechanical components of the mobile vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a driving notification method according to anembodiment of the invention. With reference to FIG. 5, the methodprovided by this embodiment is suitable for the driving notificationsystem 40 of the foregoing embodiment, and detailed steps of providingan alarm according to the gaze position of the driver in this embodimentis described with reference to the elements in the driving notificationsystem 40 as follows.

In step S501, the processor 430 captures a surrounding image through theimage capturing device 450. In step S502, the processor 430 performs atarget object detection to the surrounding image to obtain a targetposition of an image detection object. In step S503, a gaze position ofa driver is detected by the processor 430 through the eye trackingdevice 410.

For instance, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of obtaining a gaze positionaccording to an embodiment of the invention. With reference to FIG. 6, amobile vehicle 61 is driven on a road, the image capturing device 450disposed on the mobile vehicle 61 faces a traveling direction to take aphoto, and the eye tracking device 410 disposed on the mobile vehicle 61is configured to detect a gaze position of a driver. To be specific, theprocessor 430 may obtain a reference set value of a projection plane PL1set by the eye tracking device 410 and may also obtain a projectionposition (Xe, Ye) reflecting an eye gaze of the driver on the projectionplane PL1 provided by the eye tracking device 410. The foregoingreference set value includes a width W and a height H of the projectionplane PL1 as well as a distance D between the projection plane PL1 andthe mobile vehicle 61.

In another aspect, the image capturing device 450 can capture asurrounding image Img1 in front of the mobile device 61 according to afield of view thereof and a position where the image capturing device450 is disposed. The processor 430 can detect that an image detectionobject S1 of a target object 62 (i.e., the traffic light) exists on thesurrounding image Img1 and thus obtains a target position (Xc, Yc) ofthe image detection object S1 on the surrounding image Img1. In anotheraspect, the processor 430 can convert the projection position (Xe, Ye)on the projection plane PL1 to a relative position (Xet, Yet) on thesurrounding image Img1 to obtain the gaze position of the driveraccording to a field of view of the image capturing device 450 and thereference set value of the projection plane PL1. In other words, theprocessor 430 can map any coordinate on the projection plane PL1 ontothe image coordinate on the surrounding image Img1 according to thefield of view of the image capturing device 450. Here, the processor 430regards the relative position (Xet, Yet) as the gaze position of thedriver. As such, in the following steps, the processor 430 can determinewhether the gaze position of the driver falls on the target objectaccording to the target position (Xc, Yc) and the relative position(Xet, Yet).

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are scenario schematic diagrams of obtaining a gazeposition according to an embodiment of the invention. With reference toFIG. 7A first, a surrounding image Img2 can be photographed by the imagecapturing device 450 disposed at an external portion of the mobilevehicle 61, and a projection reference image Img3 can be photographed byan image capturing device 490 disposed at an internal portion of themobile vehicle 61. Note that in the example of FIG. 7A, the imagecapturing device 490 may be disposed based on a projection plane of theeye tracking device 410, such that a field of view of the imagecapturing device 490 configured to generate the projection referenceimage Img3 is disposed to be identical to a virtual space of the eyetracking device 410. The eye tracking device 410 is configured to detecta position in which the line-of-sight of the driver falls in the virtualspace, and the projection plane of the eye tracking device 410 is aplane in the virtual space perpendicular to the ground. As such, throughperforming image calibration and matching to the surrounding image Img2and the projection reference image Img3, the projection position (Xe,Ye) reflecting the eye gaze of the driver on the projection plane set bythe eye tracking device 410 may be converted to the relative position(Xet, Yet) on the surrounding image Img2.

With reference to FIG. 7B, the mobile vehicle 61 does not have the imagecapturing device 490 disposed at the inner portion compared to FIG. 7A.As shown in the example of FIG. 7B, the eye tracking device 410 candetect the projection position (Xe, Ye) projected on the projectionplane PL2 based on the reference set value of the projection plane PL2.The surrounding image Img2 can be photographed by the image capturingdevice 450 disposed at the external portion of the mobile vehicle 61,the projection position (Xe, Ye) reflecting the eye gaze of the driveron the projection plane PL2 set by the eye tracking device 410 can beconverted to the relative position (Xet, Yet) on the surrounding imageImg2 through performing image calibration and mapping relative to thefield of view of the projection plane PL2 to the image Img2. In can thusbe seen that based on the examples of FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, theprojection position (Xe, Ye) can be mapped into a coordinate space ofthe target position (Xc, Yc), and the gaze position (Xet, Yet) of thedriver is thus accordingly obtained.

With reference to FIG. 5, in step S504, when the target objectcorresponding to the image detection object is detected, the processor430 detects a distance between the mobile vehicle and the target objectby using the distance measuring device 460. Next, in step S505, theprocessor 430 determines whether the distance between the mobile vehicleand the target object is less than a threshold. If No is determined instep S505, meaning that the distance between the target object and themobile vehicle is overly far and that the driver is not required to beparticularly notified to pay attention, and therefore, the processor 430controls the alarm device 420 not to activate the alarming operation instep S508. For instance, a distance A1 (in meter) between the mobilevehicle and the traffic light may be measured by the distance measuringdevice 460. When the processor 430 determines that A1 (in meter) isgreater than a threshold B1 (in meter), the processor 430 does notactivate the alarm device 420 and does not further determine thatwhether the target position of the traffic light matches the gazeposition, either.

Note that the threshold can be set according to actual applications. Inan embodiment, the threshold may further provide corresponding valuesaccording to the type of the target object. Taking the target objectacting as an obstruction for example, obstructions that are too far awayfrom each other are not required to be paid attention to by the driverurgently, as such, a threshold corresponding to the obstructions can beset as a first value. Taking the target object acting as a specifictraffic sign for example, a threshold corresponding to the specifictraffic sign can be set as a second value different from the firstvalue.

In another aspect, if Yes is determined in step S505, the processor 430determines whether the gaze position matches the target position in stepS506. It can be seen in FIG. 6, FIG. 7A, and FIG. 7B that the processor430 can obtain the target position according to the surrounding imageand calculates the gaze position according to the projection positionprovided by the eye tracking device 410. As such, the processor 430 canfurther determine whether the gaze position matches the target positionand whether the gaze position and the target position are close enough.In an embodiment, the processor 430 can determine whether the gazeposition matches the target position based directly on the distancebetween the gaze position and the target position.

For instance, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of determining whether agaze position matches a target position according to an embodiment ofthe invention. With reference to FIG. 8, the processor 430 can determinewhether a gap d1 between a target position (Xc, Yc) of an imagedetection object S2 on a surrounding image Img8 and the gaze position(Xet, Yet) of the driver is greater than a threshold. When the gap d1between the target position (Xc, Yc) of the image detection object S2 onthe surrounding image and the gaze position (Xet, Yet) of the driver isgreater than the threshold, the processor 430 can determine that thegaze position does not match the target position. When the gap d1between the target position (Xc, Yc) of the image detection object S2 onthe surrounding image Img8 and the gaze position (Xet, Yet) of thedriver is less than or equal to the threshold, the processor 430 candetermine that the gaze position matches the target position.

In addition, in an embodiment, the processor 430 can also determinewhether the gaze position matches the target position according to imagesimilarity between the image detection object and an image blockcovering the gaze position. For instance, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagramof determining whether a gaze position matches a target positionaccording to an embodiment of the invention. With reference to FIG. 9,the processor 430 may obtain a specific block Z1 on the surroundingimage Img8 by serving the gaze position (Xet, Yet) of the driver as anextending basis. The processor 430 determines the image similaritybetween the specific block Z1 and the image detection object S2. Fromanother aspect, the processor 430 determines image similarity betweenthe specific block Z1 and an image block Z2 including the imagedetection object S2. When the image similarity between the specificblock Z1 and the image detection object S2 is greater than thethreshold, the processor 430 can determine that the gaze positionmatches the target position. When the image similarity between thespecific block and the image detection object is less than or equal tothe threshold, the processor 430 can determine that the gaze positiondoes not match the target position.

With reference to FIG. 5, if Yes is determined in step S506, meaningthat the gaze position of the driver falls on the target position, theprocessor 430 controls the alarm device 420 not to activate the alarmingoperation in step S508. If No is determined in step S506, meaning thatthe gaze position of the driver does not fall on the target position,the processor 430 controls the alarm device 420 to activate the alarmingoperation in step S507. After the alarming operation is activated, theprocessor 460 repeats step S501 to S503 in step S509. Next, in stepS510, the processor 430 re-determines whether the gaze position matchesthe target position.

If Yes is determined in step S510, meaning that the gaze position of thedriver falls on the target position after being notified by the alarmingoperation, the processor 430 controls the alarm device 420 to stopperforming the alarming operation in step S512. If No is determined instep S510, meaning that the gaze position of the driver still does notfall on the target position after being notified by the alarmingoperation, the processor 430 can control the vehicle driving element 470of the mobile vehicle according to the target object corresponding tothe image detection object in step S511. In an embodiment, the processor430 can control a speed control device of the mobile vehicle accordingto the traffic sign or the obstruction, so as to lower a driving speedof the mobile vehicle. That is, when the driver continuously fail tonotice the target object, the processor 430 can control the vehicledriving element 470 of the mobile vehicle according to the type of thetarget object and then intervenes in the driving behavior of the driver.For instance, if the target object is a speed limit sign, the processors430 controls the speed limit element of the mobile vehicle to lower amoving speed. If the target object is an obstruction, the processors 430controls a brake device of the mobile vehicle to perform automaticbraking.

In view of the foregoing, in the embodiments of the invention, theline-of-sight location of the driver is obtained through the eyetracking device. Moreover, whether the line-of-sight of the driver fallson the target object around the mobile vehicle can also be determined.When the gaze position of the driver does not match the target position,an alarm is provided by the invention to notify the driver to focus onthe target object that needs to be noticed. The alarm is timely providedaccording to the line-of-sight of the driver, and the line-of-sight ofthe driver is thus expected to fall on the object on the road that needsto be noticed. In addition, the invention may further intervene in thedriving behavior according to the line-of-sight of the driver, so as toprevent urgent and dangerous situations from happening. Therefore, adriving assistance providing high level of safety is provided by theinvention, so as to lower probability of traffic accidents.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of the presentinvention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present inventioncover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A driving notification method, for a drivingnotification system comprising an eye tracking device and an imagecapturing device, the driving notification system being disposed on amobile vehicle, the driving notification method comprising: (a)capturing a surrounding image through the image capturing device; (b)performing a target object detection to the surrounding image to obtaina target position of an image detection object; (c) detecting a gazeposition of a driver through the eye tracking device; (d) determiningwhether the gaze position matches the target position; and (e)controlling an alarm device to activate an alarming operation if thegaze position does not match the target position, wherein the step (c)comprises: obtaining a reference set value of a projection plane of theeye tracking device and a projection position reflecting an eye gaze ofthe driver on the projection plane, wherein the reference set valuecomprises a width and a height of the projection plane, and a distancebetween the projection plane and the mobile vehicle; and converting theprojection position on the projection plane into a relative position onthe surrounding image to obtain the gaze position of the driveraccording to a field of view of the image capturing device and thereference set value of the projection plane, wherein the step (d)comprises: obtaining a specific block on the surrounding image byserving the gaze position of the driver as an extending basis, wherein asize of the specific block corresponds to a size of the image detectionobject; and determining image similarity between the specific block andthe image detection object, determining that the gaze position matchesthe target position if the image similarity between the specific blockand the image detection object is greater than a threshold; anddetermining that the gaze position does not match the target position ifthe image similarity between the specific block and the image detectionobject is less than or equal to the threshold.
 2. The drivingnotification method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drivingnotification method further comprises the following step after the step(d): controlling the alarm device not to activate the alarming operationif the gaze position matches the target position.
 3. The drivingnotification method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drivingnotification method further comprises the following steps after the step(e): performing the step (a) to the step (d) repeatedly; controlling thealarm device to stop performing the alarming operation if the gazeposition matches the target position after performing the step (a) tothe step (d) repeatedly; and controlling a vehicle driving element ofthe mobile vehicle according to a target object corresponding to theimage detection object if the gaze position does not match the targetposition after performing the step (a) to the step (d) repeatedly. 4.The driving notification method as claimed in claim 3, wherein thetarget object comprises a traffic sign or an obstruction, and the stepof controlling the vehicle driving element of the mobile vehicleaccording to the target object corresponding to the image detectionobject comprises: controlling a speed control device of the mobilevehicle according to the traffic sign or the obstruction to lower adriving speed of the mobile vehicle.
 5. The driving notification methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein the driving notification method furthercomprises: detecting a distance between the mobile vehicle and thetarget object by using a distance measuring device when the targetobject corresponding to the image detection object is detected; andperforming the step (d) if the distance between the mobile vehicle andthe target object is less than a threshold.
 6. The driving notificationmethod as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (d) comprises:determining whether a distance between the target position of the imagedetection object on the surrounding image and the gaze position of thedriver is greater than a threshold, wherein the gaze position does notmatch the target position if the distance between the target position ofthe image detection object on the surrounding image and the gazeposition of the driver is greater than the threshold; and the gazeposition matches the target position if the distance between the targetposition of the image detection object on the surrounding image and thegaze position of the driver is less than or equal to the threshold.
 7. Adriving notification system disposed on a mobile vehicle, comprising: animage capturing device; an eye tracking device; a memory, storing aplurality of instructions; and a processor, coupled to the imagecapturing device, the eye tracking device, and the memory, wherein theprocessor is configured to execute the instructions to: capture asurrounding image through the image capturing device; perform a targetobject detection to the surrounding image to obtain a target position ofan image detection object; detect a gaze position of a driver throughthe eye tracking device; determine whether the gaze position matches thetarget position; and control an alarm device to activate an alarmingoperation if the gaze position does not match the target position,wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructionsto: obtain a reference set value of a projection plane of the eyetracking device and a projection position reflecting an eye gaze of thedriver on the projection plane, wherein the reference set valuecomprises a width and a height of the projection plane, and a distancebetween the projection plane and the mobile vehicle; and convert theprojection position on the projection plane into a relative position onthe surrounding image to obtain the gaze position of the driveraccording to a field of view of the image capturing device and thereference set value of the projection plane, wherein the processor isfurther configured to execute the instructions to: obtain a specificblock on the surrounding image by serving the gaze position of thedriver as an extending basis, wherein a size of the specific blockcorresponds to a size of the image detection object; and determine imagesimilarity between the specific block and the image detection object,determine that the gaze position matches the target position if theimage similarity between the specific block and the image detectionobject is greater than a threshold, and determine that the gaze positiondoes not match the target position if the image similarity between thespecific block and the image detection object is less than or equal tothe threshold.
 8. The driving notification system as claimed in claim 7,wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructionsto: control the alarm device not to activate the alarming operation ifthe gaze position matches the target position.
 9. The drivingnotification system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processor iscoupled to a vehicle driving element of the mobile vehicle, and theprocessor is further configured to execute the instructions to: controlthe alarm device to stop performing the alarming operation if the gazeposition matches the target position; and control the vehicle drivingelement of the mobile vehicle according to a target object correspondingto the image detection object if the gaze position does not match thetarget position.
 10. The driving notification system as claimed in claim9, wherein the target object comprises a traffic sign or an obstruction,and the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:control a speed control device of the mobile vehicle according to thetraffic sign or the obstruction to lower a driving speed of the mobilevehicle.
 11. The driving notification system as claimed in claim 7,wherein the driving notification system further comprises a distancemeasuring device coupled to the processor, and the processor is furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to: detect a distance between themobile vehicle and the target object by using the distance measuringdevice when the target object corresponding to the image detectionobject is detected; and determine whether the gaze position matches thetarget position if the distance between the mobile vehicle and thetarget object is less than a threshold.
 12. The driving notificationsystem as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to: determine whether a distancebetween the target position of the image detection object on thesurrounding image and the gaze position of the driver is greater than athreshold, wherein the gaze position does not match the target positionif the distance between the target position of the image detectionobject on the surrounding image and the gaze position of the driver isgreater than the threshold; and the gaze position matches the targetposition if the distance between the target position of the imagedetection object on the surrounding image and the gaze position of thedriver is less than or equal to the threshold.